Five Ways ‘Grease' Ruined My Life

I was born in 1984, Grease came out in 1978 but takes place in the 1950’s. I probably saw it for the first time when I was 9 or 10 , so in 1993 or 1994. That makes this movie very confusing! This was a movie that I saw a lot as a kid and then sprinklings of times here and there while in high school and college. I probably hadn’t seen it in its entirety in about 10 years … until I went to the Grease sing-a-long at Hollywood Bowl the other week. (I did obsessively watch the Grease competition show, “You’re the One That I Want” though!)

Guys, Didi Conn was there which prompted me to freak out, then my friend asked why I was so excited and I said, “Have you ever even SEEN Shining Time Station?!”

Obviously I had a great time at the sing-a-long because, Grease is fun to sing along to, they gave us props and, let’s face it, we were able to bring in drinks. But the weirdest thing about watching all of Grease (and having the lyrics printed on screen throughout the movie) again was that it is dirty! And crazy! You know how you think about liking Dirty Dancing and then you think about it, I mean really think about it, and you realize the whole movie is pretty disturbing and upsetting and aside from the finale, any dance practice and “I carried a watermelon” you probably never need to see it again? That’s sort of how I walked away from Grease.

The other thing I realized when chatting to my friend Jessie before the movie was that I thought I hated Marty. I was like, “she’s the boring one, right? Whatever.” But then I watched the movie and LOVED Marty. My grandmother also went by Marty (her name was Maureen) so I did have a soft spot for the name but I thought I remembered her storyline was boring but oh boy is it not! Maraschino, like the cherry.

Here are five ways Grease, I’ve realized, has ruined my life:

1. Forever Realized I Have Major Sandy Tendencies

I was the Sandy of my group of friends growing up. I moved back into a school district I hadn’t been in since kindergarten when I was in 4th grade and it felt…dramatic. I knew some of the kids, but I hadn’t been there for three grades and when you’re only 9 that is an eternity. So poor Sandy arriving to Rydell High, not knowing many people (tho at least she had Frenchy) really spoke to me. Sure, I didn’t have an Australian accent and I hadn’t been having an innocent fling with a popular guy but I still felt what she was going through.

This is me.

These are my friends.

Any sleepover where girls wanted to talk about boys, I didn’t even know what to do. “He’s cute” was about the end of it. If any chat went to kissing I immediately turned bright red (something that still happens to me today), and if anyone wanted to do ANYTHING bad, I was terrified and against it. There was a very innocent sleepover in 5thgrade where all the girls started mooning each other and I didn’t want to and started crying because of all the anxiety. So like, 10-year-old Erin is what I assume 10-year-old Sandy would have been.

Like, someone probably made fun of me in this manner. Or at least wanted to.

Do I think having Sandy tendencies is the worst thing? Well, no, not exactly. But she does succumb to the peer pressure in the end and then drive off in a flying car so I mean, she’s not a super great role model either.

2. Thought High School Was Going to Involve A Lot More Dancing and Singing

Obviously, as a child, I thought any movie about high school was essentially a documentary. (Also, as someone who has always looked younger than they are, the casting of older-than-high-school-aged-actors really messed with me growing up!) So basically, I assumed that I’d spend a lot of time breaking out into song and suddenly being an excellent dancer (I also assume kids who grow up with High School Musicalwill have a similar problem.)

Dancing!

The hilarious part about this is I used to be in choirs, I even was in musicals and I’ve had to dance on stage many times. But I never wanted a solo. You know what I mean? I was very content being in choirs or being in the chorus of a musical or dancing in a group but being offered the chance to sing alone basically made me want to break out in hives. Senior year, in one of the choirs, the seniors were all supposed to have solos and I respectfully declined mine. I loved singing and singing in a group but please don’t make me sing alone.

And more dancing!

Of course that all changed now because if “Lucky” is playing at karaoke and it’s my turn, you need to get out of my way.

3. Wondered Why My Friends and I Never Wore Matching Outfits

It’s really not fair I was never a part of a girl gang, you guys. I would have loved those jackets.

This kind of goes back to my desire in high school to have school uniforms. I just like the idea of wearing the same thing as my classmates, I guess. It’s weird to think about now since I have a wardrobe that would never be a uniform but as a pre-teen and teen I just felt like a uniform would make everything so easy. (And probably would have prevented me from ever rocking huge jeans and an oversized Nike tee shirt in middle school.)

But I just really like the idea of a jacket. It’s less of a commitment than a uniform but it lets people know you mean business.

I guess what I’m trying to say is if anyone wants to start a girl gang with me, let me know, I’ll draft up some jackets.

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HelloGiggles is a positive online community for women (although men are always welcome!) covering the latest in beauty, fashion, lifestyle, female empowerment, culture, relationships, friendship, careers, and issues that matter most to young women’s lives. A platform for writers and artists to create and share, HelloGiggles welcomes reader contributions and publishes them daily. And now, we are growing beyond just the website to include video, film, television and events. We were founded by Zooey Deschanel, Molly McAleer, and Sophia Rossi in 2011 as a place on the Internet to inspire a smile. We’re still trying to do just that.